The Great Resignation is Here! 3 Things Employers Should Focus at to Make Brilliant Staff Stay

In August 2021, 4.3 million Americans resigned, beating the previous record, set in April that year. In parallel, the UK staffing crisis is deepening as more than a quarter of firms surveyed last month said a lack of staff was affecting their ability to operate.

Real empathy and caring for your candidates and employees is now a must-have for employers, not a nice-to-have thing...Here are three simple things employers can and should do, in my opinion, to prevent their staff from leaving:

Flexibility

Bosses are obviously anxious to hold on to their people. Many who were previously reluctant to grant their teams more flexibility to work when and where they want are caving to employee pressure and loosening rules about when workers must be in the office.

But, flexibility is not only a temporary solution being demonstrated by location, by when employees work, or how they work. To support long-term retention, there's a real need in lightening workloads, which can generate more flexibility and reduce employee burnout or stress.

An ‘always be recruiting’ mindset

Employers should treat existing employees with the kind of seductive attention they bring to hiring new staff. Remember the relationship therapists' advice to treat your long-term life partner as if you are still courting them? The same principle goes to employers. Employers should commit to investing in their employees (i.e organisational and personal development, career planning, more annual leave) year after year.

Care and trust

Whether due to a lack of fair treatment, having to deal with a horrible boss, or an inequitable work-life balance, employees fleeing what might be viewed as perfectly good jobs are simply choosing to put themselves first for a change. Employers who beat them to the punch by taking steps to create environments where associates feel safe, valued, and more empowered to make their own scheduling choices stand a great chance of keeping these employees. Employees want transparency and want to be trusted. They want employers who recognize that managing in a Zoom economy is different, and that their leaders need different skills and training. They want bosses who stop being skeptical whether they are actually working when they are at home. They want to be respected by leaders who get that remote work is not an invitation for micromanagement.